Hey guys, new guy from England here. Just thought I'd post up some pics of my Ranchero. The guy I bought it from said the car was "on the road", however on further investigation it turns out that:
A: no parking brake
B: no radiator core support to frame bolt
C: no steering column drop
D: rear spring plates loose
E: DANGEROUSLY installed Jerry can as a gas tank
F: no wipers
G: no turn signal switch
H: built on a convertible frame, hence rear end 2 inches further back
I: front tyres rubbing on suspension
.....need I go on? :001:
Very pleased with the car just very frustrated.
(http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff144/RobsandNikki/1409263472401.jpg) (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/RobsandNikki/media/1409263472401.jpg.html)
(http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff144/RobsandNikki/1409263424286.jpg) (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/RobsandNikki/media/1409263424286.jpg.html)
Whaddya reckon?
Robin.
looks good plenty to keep you busy.
wekcome
Not too professionally done....I hate hearing about guys getting stuck with stuff from "not exactly honest" sellers. Where did you buy the car from?
Welcome to the forum, btw.
Welcome aboard! Must have gotten it out of Canada, same place my "rust free" Ranchwagon came from!
Welcome. Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you if you decide to fix all of it.
Are you sure it's a convertible frame, it would have an X cross member, or it might be a
Fairlane frame.
Unfortunately the Ranchero gas tanks are expensive compared to the car.
It looks like some front sheet metal is missing also, I can see the grille through the wheel opening. Stainless around the front winshield is missing or did it come with the car?
Good luck with the project, lots of help here if needed.
Hi, when did you buy it? The guy that had the work done contacted me over on Rods N Sods, I'm guessing you bought it from him (Andy) or are you Andy??
If it was the car that I think it was, it came over here a while ago, brought in by Ian Rubery from Stoke, the thing that sticks in my mind is that one also had an axle position that looked "wrong". There's a whole bunch of friendly, knowledgable folks here, I'd have been stuck with mine so many times if it wasn't for this place!
Where abouts in the UK are you?
Look at the frame in the rear, at the front of the spring eye. There should be another pair of holes approx. 2 inches forward of the Fairlane mounting position. At least that's how my Fairlane parts car was. You would have to remove the leaf spring brackets and weld them to the forward positions, as well as move the rear spring hangers forward to the available 3 holes there. I was surprised to see those extra holes in my Fairlane frame. It seems, you would just move your spring hangers forward 2 inches, and that would fix the rear end issues. Give it a look and see if the extra holes are in your frame.
Length of drive shaft and parking brake cables will be affected. I'm impressed the body fits over the frame in the rear axle area. At one time, the rear of the Fairlane frame would have to be trimmed and the rear cross member moved. If the convertible frame was used, did they leave the X-frame in it?
IF it is the Ranchero I'm thinking of, when it came over the original rear springs were shot and were replaced with a pair off another car (not a 57 Ford) just to get it roll-able. I was told that these odd springs were responsible for the odd wheel position. Might be worth checking that the springs are right if you haven't done already.
Gary, it is the car you're thinking of. I bought it 2 months ago off of Andy (for too much money but I had to have it). The springs appear to be correct for the car, albeit the bushes are shot. Its definatley a convertible frame as it has the x member. It has the holes so I can move the spring hangars forward, so that's all good. There's a cross member added to mount the rear shocks but these are in front of the axle, and from looking at frame pics the cross member should be to the rear of the axle, correct? It had a new windshield rubber installed, without putting the trim in first!!! But I am missing the corner pieces. For the time being it will probably be a mild kustom so I can use it until I have everything together to maybe restore it. It will never be 100% restored as it has a Rover/Buick 215 and 5 speed so parts are plentiful over here. There are new e brake cables with the car which are Ranchero, just need to move the cable brackets rearward. All of the trim is with the car, I just need the corner pieces for front and rear. I'm really glad this forum exists, there's a few little differences between this and the Fairlane 500 I had a number of years ago.
I have an extra frame if you want to come get it!!
Aha, I now know the car. It was brought over by Ian (Wagonman on Rods N Sods) , it was white, but he moved it on, I don't think he knew about the wrong frame as he was convinced it had the wrong springs. I think the mild custom route is a good idea as it struck me as being one of those cars that had lots of bits missing and had been messed with a lot, meaning it would take a lot of time & money to get it back to 100% factory.
There's some nice custom/kustom Rancheros out there, for me, this is beautiful, stretched, chopped etc, etc but still looking "factory":
(http://imagehosting.rodsnsods.co.uk/242544ff3cb63d95.jpg)
Chopped 2 inches using stock convt/ht windshield, seat lowered 3 inches, lengthened front fenders 1", quarter panel fins 2", frenched head lights and tail lights, custom made tail lights, louvered hood and tail gate, narrowed 9"
Sounds like salesman talk...easier to change out the wrong set of springs that change out the frame.
I was gonna say, if you pay the air fare I could bring it back as hand luggage! :003:
Just strap an empty oil drum to each corner and float it across!
Quote from: Limey57 on 2014-10-28 16:15
Just strap an empty oil drum to each corner and float it across!
Just throw it in the Detroit River and hope in makes Niagara Falls before the lakes freeze over.
Well its been a while chaps, thought I would update you on my Ranchero.
As im sure you have read, the car has some issues. The major issue being that it is on a convertible frame so the rear axle is too far back, the parking brake cables are too short plus the small issue of a dirty great x member underneath!
The rear axle is now in its correct location which meant removing the rear spring hangars and relocating them the required 2 inches further forward that Ford had already punched in the frame! The front hangars were more of a challenge in that they had to be cut off and re welded, again further forward to yet again a hole that was already there, only requiring a larger hole drilled on the inside of the frame to access the spring hangar bolt. New bushes were installed, 2 inch lowering blocks installed, the rear end could go back in the car. Then come out again as it needs new axle bearings and my garage isn?t wide enough to pull the ?shafts with the axle still in the car!
Parking Brake: the car came with brand new parking brake cables which now the axle is in the right place, I could attempt to connect this up. Small issue being that I didnt have an operating lever with the car, so gasman826 very kindly sent me the correct part! This in turn needs a gearbox crossmember to attach to. The crossmember in the car is a home made affair which would come out as I had acquired an original sedan crossmember off a friend who had a derelict 58 in his woods, and also an equaliser off another 58 that my brother broke. After a lot of head scratching and looking at pictures on here and removing the dirty great x member!, I finally have a working parking brake!
Brake and clutch: an awful homemade brake and clutch pedal assembly was in the car, which quite frankly was bloody dangerous! The pedals were mounted so low down that the pedal pads actually hit the horizontal floor board! These have subsequently been thrown at the nearest bin. The 58 in the woods also gave up its pedal box which after a lick of paint and some new bushes its back where it should be. Treated it to a new original master cylinder and brake lines throughout.
Steering column drop: it didnt have one. The previous owner had been driving this car swinging about on a full size wheel with no power steering and no column drop! I now have an original pedal box in the car I can now make a column drop using the original bottom half of the column clamp. Except the mounting screws aren?t long enough because when the body was put on the frame, the rear footwells fouled on the top of the x member. To overcome this the body mount rubber doughnuts have been removed from underneath the frame and put on top, meaning that the body now sits 3/4s of an inch higher than it should, so the column screws now just get full thread engagement on the nuts.
Gas tank: as we are well aware, Ranchero gas tanks are expensive. Shipping one over here is cost prohibitive. Guess where I got a gas tank? Yup, the 58 in the woods. Now being a sedan tank, it aint gonna fit, so , the spare wheel well in the Ranchero got removed, and a new floor was made using the original tank strap mounts which means the sedan tank now sits sideways with the filler neck pointing in the same direction as the original one! The tank now needs to go through a cleaning process and to be topped off with a new fuel sender.
Theres still a few little bits and pieces that need doing, but im happy I have broken the back of the major problems.
Robin
Lots of head scratching going on over there with good results! I think more than a few of us have found some stuff from '58 donor cars to help get our '57's back on the road. I found a '58 with a pristine floor and inner rear quarters. Glad your keeping at it and thanks for keeping us posted. Do you live far from Gary and his Ranchero project?